On December 20th 1968 a harsh reality was about to dawn, that would forever cast a long shadow over the residents of the Vallejo and Benicia areas - one that would remain to this day, after the brutal murder of two young high school students Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday on a lonely gravel turnout alongside Lake Herman Road. It was shortly after 11.00 pm on a cold December night in Benicia when the killer struck, that would be the genesis of one of the most comprehensive murder investigations in US history, spearheaded by Detective Sergeant Les Lundblad, stationed in Solano County. 

The murders threw up many theories, but one centered on a motive of jealousy, that possibly two individuals may have been responsible for the slayings. One young man became a person of interest after he and two accomplices were found to have raided and vandalized a local residence five months earlier, and may have become jealous upon hearing of the relationship between Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday. Early newspaper reports had initially indicated that two sets of ballistics had been found at the crime scene, from .38 and .22 weaponry, which was soon corrected. Friends of the couple were interviewed to search for a motive, in a 'shake the branches' and see what falls out technique, but alibis held strong and no credible suspects landed at their feet.

Sergeant Jack Mulanax, in charge after the Blue Rock Springs attack some 6 months later, believed all four attacks to be the work of the Zodiac Killer - a view not held by Sergeant John Lynch, who also investigated the Zodiac murders and concluded that the Lake Herman Road murders were separate to Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa and Presidio Heights. The Lake Herman Road murders were belatedly attributed to the Zodiac Killer after the arrival of three letters to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle, postmarked July 31st 1969, along with his 'Debut of Zodiac' letter on August 4th 1969 with the immortal phrase "This is the Zodiac speaking". The Zodiac Killer laid claim to the Blue Rock Springs attack on Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau and the earlier murders in a phone call 40 minutes after the attack, and by letter just 27 days after that fateful night. It is only then he corroborates his involvement in the Lake Herman Road murders, seven months earlier. Taking into consideration these may have been his first murders under the Zodiac umbrella, it seems unusual that a man gripped by the spotlight of attention would choose to wait more than half a year before announcing himself to the world, subsequently unleashing a barrage of communications that may have continued into a new century.                

The question remains why. What reason did he have for the delay in claiming these murders, that he was only too keen to claim at Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa and Presidio Heights? Serial killers rarely jump in at the deep end - they generally have a history of lesser infractions that build up in intensity, before they take the final step into murder. In other words, if the Lake Herman Road murders were committed by the Zodiac Killer, this was a natural progression that he would have developed into.

His letters, cards and ciphers displayed forethought of murder, not just impulse. He had a plan to terrorize authorities to the nth degree, yet in the aftermath of Lake Herman Road he delayed his onslaught for just over seven months. Was this a rational choice of self preservation, or was he content to allow investigators to scrabble around searching into close connections of Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday due to the close proximity of his first crime to his residence? If these were his first murders, he may have applied greater caution, bearing in mind there may have been witnesses to his make of car and he may have retained possession of the firearm - and the dragnet widening to incorporate a wider field of view, would not have been in his interest. He may have been perfectly happy to watch the investigation follow a path that diverted away from what he knew was about to be realized -that northern California had a serial killer on its hands.

In the last article on this site, the small town of Benicia was earmarked as the likely residence of the Zodiac Killer, taking into consideration the timeline and movements of the killer, particularly after the first two attacks at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs. Again, we will explore this possibility, based on the mailing dates of his letters. Previously we stated that a serial killer will often begin his murders in a place of familiarity, close to home. The murderer wants to facilitate an escape route with minimal risk, as well as a speedy return to the safety of their residence, but not too close to bring the police to their doorstep, known in geographic profiling terms as a 'buffer zone'. It was noticed that his early crimes, based on a home residence in Benicia, began at Lake Herman Road, only 5 miles from southern Benicia, extending to 9 miles to Blue Rock Springs, 50 miles to Lake Berryessa and finally 40 miles to Presidio Heights - slightly less distance than Lake Berryessa - but as a general rule his crimes were becoming more spread as he gained in confidence.

As the radius of his murders widened, his immediate correspondence after each crime shortened. His first contact on July 31st 1969 was just over 7 months after the Lake Herman Road murders, but only 27 days after Blue Rock Springs. His murder of Paul Stine was the next furthest at 40 miles when he corresponded with the San Francisco Chronicle only 2 days later, when he mailed a swatch of Paul Stine's shirt on October 13th 1969. His third attack at the shores of Lake Berryessa attack, was the furthest from Benicia at 50 miles, where he wasted no time declaring himself the responsible, writing on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's Karmann Ghia just minutes after the attack. In other words, the further he was away from his home residence, the greater his compunction to correspond sooner, what is in effect, the offering of evidence that could be used against him. He possibly felt the risk was greatly reduced in police centering the investigation to letters and crimes with an increased 'buffer zone'.

The need for a significant delay between the Lake Herman Road murders and the August 31st 1969 letters may have  been inherent of a man who knew he was just too close for comfort and the heat had to dissipate. To wittingly pull the investigation of the Lake Herman Road double murder away from the desired route it had taken, may have veered the focus away from family and friends - something the Zodiac Killer was keen to avoid with his residence closer than he would have liked.            

The one thing a killer certainly tries to avoid is being caught in the commission of the crime, along with being stopped on the journey back to the 'safe zone' - usually their home or current residence. The least time they spend carrying the 'smoking gun' before its disposal, or at the very least its return to the relative security of home, the better. Bearing this common sense approach in mind, we will again examine the most likely hot spot the Zodiac Killer returned to after his murderous acts of evil, and narrow down a location to the small town of Benicia, a low crime rate, middle class community with a population of roughly 5,000 in 1968/69.

The first thing to consider is the trusted geographic profiling technique of the 'least effort principle,' and the high probability that the Zodiac Killer had a standard 9-5 occupation, which seemed to govern his actions during all four of his attacks. This is not a giant leap of faith, bearing in mind that a serial killer will often begin his crimes close to home, before venturing further afield, based on a 'buffer zone', that generally facilitates a safe and speedy return once the crime has been committed - but obviously, not too close as to wipe your feet on the front doormat. Taking this as our rule of thumb; if the Zodiac Killer had finished his working week on Friday at 5:00 pm, then using the 'least effort principle' and 'buffer zone' as a template, one would expect the Zodiac Killer's first crime to be relatively close to home - especially considering he had finished work that same day. If he lived in the southern reaches of Benicia, then the Lake Herman Road double murder of Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday on December 20th 1968, just a few miles away, seems to fit the bill. It would not be too close to home, while allowing for a relatively short journey time of 10 minutes to the perpetrator's residence. Bearing this in mind, his first two attacks would have been chosen using this 'least effort principle,' as both were on a working day, both were on a Friday, and both crimes fell within a 10 mile radius of the lower region of Benicia. His rest day of Saturday would facilitate his ability to travel further afield, firstly to Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969 and culminating with the Presidio Heights murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969.           

But why Benicia, and not Vallejo or San Francisco?
Lake Herman Road is a two-lane, secluded and unlit road, infrequently used by commuters in 1968. Somebody who lived in San Francisco would have been unfamiliar with this road, unless of course they had previously lived in the Vallejo or Benicia regions. Furthermore, it flies in the face of what we assume was the Zodiac Killer's first crime, in that the 'buffer zone' is unnecessarily lengthy and risky - and the 'least effort principle' has seemingly been abandoned.

The distance from the nearest point of San Francisco to Lake Herman Road is approximately 32 miles, or a journey time by car of about 50-60 minutes. The Zodiac Killer may have lived in Vallejo, but his actions after the double slaying at Lake Herman Road spoke volumes. He exited the turnout and headed east to Benicia. This was explained in a previous post entitled 'East to Benicia', and here is a small portion as a reminder: Eyewitness testimony from the Lake Herman Road murders suggested a very small window of time the Zodiac Killer had available to him to escape detection - but one eyewitness, that of Stella Borges, was the most crucial of all. A second eyewitness, James Owen, passed the turnout heading towards Benicia (calculated by police to be 11:14 pm), and he saw no victims in or around the vehicles. Stella Borges, in a revised timeline, passed the turnout at approximately 11:20 pm and saw both victims, David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen lying on the gravel turnout. Based on this chain of events, the earliest the Zodiac Killer could have murdered the young couple and started to leave the turnout would have been 11:15 pm. Stella Borges, it was estimated, left her ranch at 11:15 pm heading towards Benicia. She reported passing no vehicles en route. Therefore, the Zodiac Killer could not possibly have headed towards Vallejo along Lake Herman Road based on these timelines. The only possible scenario using the testimony of these eyewitnesses, is that the Zodiac Killer headed in an easterly direction towards Benicia and the relative safety of home. 

After committing two brutal murders and possibly having received biological transference from the close contact murder of David Faraday, in addition to the sound of at least ten shots on a still dark night - and almost certainly still in possession of a .22 caliber weapon - it would have been hard to imagine a killer heading in the opposite direction to his home residence, thereby risking a prolonged period of detection, and in all likelihood ruling out Vallejo as the home base for Northern California's most elusive serial killer.  

The phone call after the Blue Rock Springs attack on July 4th 1969 points us back to Benicia once again - but for different reasons. The attack has been narrowed down to a few short minutes around midnight, yet the call from the payphone at the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street was logged at 12:40 am. The journey from the Blue Rock Springs parking lot to the payphone is about 10 minutes, leaving at least 30 minutes of unaccounted time after the double shooting. 

What the Zodiac Killer stated in his 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, exactly one month after this attack is crucial. He stated "I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealing tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car. The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car". No mention of a negro male is detailed in the police report or newspapers - and quite frankly - why would the Zodiac Killer refer to this eyewitness at all, if indeed there ever was one? It appears on the face of it, to be providing police with unnecessarily helpful details of a man seen by the Zodiac in the area of the payphone, thereby aiding their investigation in locating a second key eyewitness in the aftermath of the crime. But it is the detail of the description that raises a red flag. The author of the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter  describes his age as 40 to 45 - a rather superfluous and unnecessary detail to highlight - as his age was irrelevant.

The letter further described the nature of his clothing as "shabbly dressed", again raising suspicion as to whether this eyewitness was simply fabricated. The Zodiac Killer also overtly emphasizes the fact his car was brown, pointing out that when he hung the phone up "the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car". The Zodiac Killer once again tags his vehicle into the narrative, highlighting "me and my car", when there was no reason to add 'my car' to the end of the phrase. That is, unless he was employing a double bluff, in that he was telling the truth, but wanted it to be perceived as a lie. Had the police believed as many have, that the killer would have wanted to get rid of the 'smoking gun' as soon as possible, after what he thought was the murder of two young people at Blue Rock Springs Park, then this unexplained 30 minutes would not have gone unnoticed by law enforcement. His seemingly inflated description of the payphone incident may have been Zodiac misdirection at its best - and he had actually driven straight home after the Blue Rock Springs attack, changed his clothes, dropped the weapon, readied himself, and walked back to the payphone. After all, police would have been looking for a murderer in possession of the 'smoking gun,' so being on foot, having discarded his car, clothes and weapon, the Zodiac Killer would now feel far more confident. Is this what the Zodiac Killer had hoped police would believe? Had he wanted to guide them into disbelieving what he wrote and center their focus within a walking distance of the Springs Road and Tuolumne payphone?

If the Zodiac Killer had spent 5 to 10 minutes parking his car outside his residence, changing his clothes, concealing his weapon and readying himself, before venturing back to the payphone, then this would have left him approximately 20-25 minutes to walk to the payphone, thereby placing his residence extremely close to the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street intersection - and the search field for the police would have been secured. Their focus would be narrowed to an approximate one mile radius of the payphone in Vallejo - and more importantly - away from other locations. His ruse would have been complete. Had the killer been in his vehicle throughout this time period,  the search field would have widened once again.

However, it should be noted that the traveling time from Blue Rock Springs Park to southern Benicia and back to the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street intersection (with 10 minutes turnaround at his possible home residence), is 38 minutes by car - almost giving us the time difference between the Blue Rock Springs attack and the phone call to Nancy Slover. The Zodiac Killer's intention may have been the same after the Lake Herman Road murders, in that he wanted to discard his weapon immediately, but by traveling back to this particular payphone after the attack at Blue Rock Springs Park, his intention may have been to create a red herring and divert the attention of police towards Vallejo. 

In the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, the author gave us the line "I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealing tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper", making sure it was understood, that he did indeed read the Vallejo paper and so cement his ties to this particular location even further. In the 'Bus Bomb' letter mailed on November 9th 1969, he rammed home the message once again: "Have fun!!. By the way it could be rather messy if you try to bluff me. PS. Be shure to print the part I marked out on page 3 or I shall do my thing. To prove that I am the Zodiac, Ask the Vallejo cop about my electric gun sight which I used to start my collecting of slaves".  The message seemed loud and clear - the Zodiac Killer lived in Vallejo. 

Using the hypothesis of a Zodiac Killer who wanted to dispose of his 'smoking gun' as quickly as possible after each attack - which seems totally understandable - his choice of turning east towards Benicia after the Lake Herman Road murders and the 38 minutes round trip to Benicia, from the Blue Rock Springs parking lot back to the payphone, could be argued for a Zodiac Killer who lived in the region of Benicia. 

We can carry this premise into the double stabbing at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969 and the disposal of the knife, gun and the executioner's costume, which in this case, were the totality of the 'smoking gun'. Access in and out of Lake Berryessa via the Knoxville Road was limited, with a 27 mile journey (48-50 minutes) ahead of the killer to the payphone at 1231 Main Street in Napa.

After the Lake Berryessa attack, the killer wrote on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's white Karmann Ghia, indicating the time of the attack was 6:30 pm. Of course, this may not be true or accurate - the attack may have been at 6:30 pm, but he may have written the message on the car door at 6:40 pm after traveling back up the hillside after the brutal stabbing. But using this as our guideline, the 50 minute journey to 1231 Main Street, where he placed his second phone call, would have placed him at the payphone at approximately 7:20 pm. Crucially though, this phone call was logged at 7:40 pm, leaving us with a possible 20 minutes of unaccounted time. If this is the case, what was he doing during this crucial period. Even allowing for his removal of the costume and any reconnaissance at the payphone, there is still a measurable ambiguity. The Zodiac Killer must have conceived that if the victims had been discovered quickly and radioed in, his 50 minute journey was fraught with danger - particularly along the initial part of his journey along the Knoxville Road. Being stopped with a blooded knife and executioner's costume would take some explaining. Had he kept hold of them all the way back to the Vallejo/Benicia areas, then the phone call at Napa would have placed him in further danger. Police, having possibly discovered the car door, and already aware of the Zodiac Killer's previous crimes in Benicia and Vallejo, would know his quickest route back to this region - in all likelihood, the primary route of California State 29, leading straight back to Vallejo and Benicia 

If we go back to the 'smoking gun' hypothesis - and regardless of the the time calculations - the quicker the Zodiac Killer removes this burden, if only for peace of mind, the better. They could have been weighted and thrown into Lake Berryessa to destroy any evidence, simply tossed from the car into the undergrowth along the Knoxville Road, or concealed with greater forethought, either alongside the Knoxville Road or beyond, en route to the payphone. Spending an inordinate amount of time parked up somewhere along the Knoxville Road would have been an unnecessary risk.  All options are plausible, but clearly the time disparity, if we believe he completed his message at 6:30 pm, may push us in the direction of a killer who deviated off route for at least 20 minutes - and likely beyond the entrapment of the Knoxville Road - such as California State Route 128, either south or west, so as to dispose of the 'smoking gun' at the safest and earliest time, and more crucially, before he placed the call in downtown Napa. 
The murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights could have followed the same template - a speedy exit through the park to his waiting car, across the Golden Gate Bridge and subsequent disposal of his weapon at the earliest possible convenience.
 
However, there is an alternative to the 'lost' 20 minutes at Lake Berryessa:
​http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/lake-berryessa-north-of-the-crime-scene
​http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/lake-berryessa-north-of-the-crime-scene-pt2